How fast should an Asia-focused bank grow? There’s no right answer, but the long-term number probably ought to be higher than the 3% compound annual revenue increase that analysts are pencilling in for $200 billion HSBC between 2025 and 2027. New CEO Georges Elhedery announced a broadly sensible strategy for the lender on Wednesday, while implicitly acknowledging that the growth question is partly out of his hands. It makes a further valuation boost unlikely. The centrepiece of Elhedery’s announcement was a $1.5 billion annual cost-cut target by 2027, helped by closing bits of its U.S. and European investment bank. The move makes sense, but

Per Franzén is taking charge of EQT at a pivotal moment. The Swedish buyout shop is big, with about $140 billion of fee-paying assets under management, but it’s not in the same league as U.S. giants like Blackstone and KKR. The $40 billion company’s biggest gap lies in the racy world of private credit, which EQT quit several years ago. Franzén’s legacy might be defined by whether he manages to reverse that historic decision. The EQT veteran, who currently runs the firm’s main investing businesses in Europe and North America, will take over in May from boss of six years

The United States is having a senior moment. As the country’s oldest president, at age 82, is followed by the second-oldest, an octogenarian chief executive’s fate will also be decided at the ballot box this week. Dissident investors seeking to oust Air Products and Chemicals boss Seifi Ghasemi are harping on his age to make their case, but it’s the wrong number on which to focus. Ghasemi has helmed the $70 billion supplier of industrial gases since July 2014. He was installed following a push by hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, alongside his Pershing Square Capital Management partner Paul Hilal. Now

The murder of UnitedHealth insurance chief Brian Thompson in New York City on Wednesday morning has exposed deep social wounds wrought by U.S. healthcare. Public response in some venues has been stunningly callous: the $545 billion company’s Facebook post expressing sadness over the tragedy saw users register tens of thousands of laughing reaction emojis. In a nation deeply unsatisfied with its care, which spends double its peers for little clear benefit, it’s a warning of the industry’s stark political vulnerability. UnitedHealth is the nation’s largest insurer. It is set to earn $25 billion this year, according to analyst estimates collected by LSEG,

Ted Pick’s appointment as chief executive of Morgan Stanley is Wall Street finance’s equivalent of a chart-topping band working on a difficult second album. He inherits a firm that’s generously valued by investors, amply profitable, and has only just fully digested two large acquisitions. When it comes to future deals, Pick has a tough act to follow. He also, though, has time. Outgoing chief James Gorman has given plenty of clues that Morgan Stanley’s future purchases will focus on the wealth and asset management business he spent the last decade building up. While Pick himself comes from the firm’s dealmaking and trading

Jes Staley’s relationship with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein is primarily a problem for Staley himself. Yet a UK watchdog’s investigation into the matter, released on Thursday, lets his old employer Barclays off the hook too easily. The troubling message is that boards needn’t challenge scandal-plagued CEOs too much. Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said on Thursday it would fine Staley 1.8 million pounds and ban him from holding senior positions in the industry. It found that he failed to correct “misleading statements” in a 2019 letter, in which Barclays told the FCA that Staley did not have a close relationship with Epstein,

Lazard’s new boss has stirred the spirit of a predecessor. Peter Orszag wants to double the 175-year-old advisory and asset management shop’s revenue by 2030 while generating a healthy total shareholder return along the way. History suggests the targets are ambitious, but it’s as good a time as any to heed the advice the late former CEO Bruce Wasserstein famously gave clients: “Dare to be great.” Orszag, a former Obama administration official who joined Lazard in 2016 from Citigroup, is wasting no time shaking things up. He doesn’t move into the corner office for another few weeks, but made clear in a memo published

After 25 years of muscling in on mega-finance, PayPal should benefit from outside help. A six-month CEO search led to Alex Chriss at Intuit to replace retiring Dan Schulman. The $70 billion company’s struggles, and the incoming chief’s credentials, set the stage for a transaction of some sort. PayPal has become the most trusted place, beyond banks, for consumers to store their money, according to research firm Euromonitor. Earlier this month, however, its quarterly results disappointed investors again, sending its stock down another 12% and bringing the decline to 80% since a July 2021 peak. Chriss ought to be able to help in one trouble spot,

The price of PayPal’s CEO hunt just grew by some $9 billion. Six months after boss Dan Schulman said he was retiring, the company unveiled disappointing second-quarter results that sent the shares down by another 11% on Thursday, lopping the 10-figure sum off its market value. Vital strategic plans are in a costly holding pattern. An e-commerce boom during the pandemic lifted PayPal’s stock price to a record high of about $308 in mid-2021. A five-plus year stretch of double-digit percentage revenue growth ended last year, when the rate slowed to a little more than 8%, and the shares have plummeted

The last day of February brought the season’s first meaningful snow in Manhattan. But Goldman Sachs’ headquarters at 200 West St. were particularly warm on Tuesday as the firm hosted its second ever in-person investor day in its more than 150-year history. Top bankers, from Chief Executive David Solomon to Chief Operating Officer John Waldron, harkened a return to the old grind of servicing companies and the wealthy, after missing the mark trying to launch a business that would reach the masses. Solomon, though, might still be feeling the chill. At the heart of his professional struggles is Marcus, the business that

Werner Baumann’s exit from Bayer lays fertile ground for a breakup. On Wednesday, the $66 billion drugs-to-seeds company said it was replacing its embattled chief executive with Roche’s former pharma boss Bill Anderson, effective June 1. Given the new chief’s background, investors have good reason to prepare for a spinoff of the crop science division. Veteran leader Baumann was on borrowed time. The German conglomerate had been misfiring since its disastrous takeover of Monsanto in 2018, which Baumann sponsored. The acquisition dragged Bayer into a wave of lawsuits from claimants alleging its Roundup weedkiller caused cancer. The risk of further litigation and

Credit Suisse’s underwriters are still several stops short of panic stations. A 20-strong consortium led by Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley, Royal Bank of Canada and Société Générale could end up holding a chunk of the stricken lender’s stock if its 2.2 billion Swiss franc ($2.4 billion) rights issue fails. Yet they have a margin of safety, while Chair Axel Lehmann probably has a few fallback options up his sleeve. Shares in the Zurich-based lender have fallen 40% since Oct. 26, the day before it unveiled a new strategy including plans to raise fresh equity. A selloff is normal ahead of a rights